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Ignored by Delhi cricket in junior cricket, pacer turned to Bhandari to learn art of fast bowling; shed weight to make grade
Harshit Rana‘s inclusion in India’s squad for the Australia sojourn was not without controversy. There was debate whether he was being fast-tracked into the Test team, that too on such a high-profile tour. A Test match in Perth later, Rana’s emergence as a credible pace option must have calmed a few nerves in the Indian dressing room.
Rana isn’t new to selection debates. For all the promise he showed at an early age, Delhi cricket mostly felt he wasn’t good enough to play for the state side. In fact, he made his IPL debut for Kolkata Knight Riders in April 2022, seven months before he made his debut for the Delhi senior team. There were a couple of rejections at the U-19 level as well.
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It was just before the second Covid-19 wave in 2021 – after being overlooked at the U-19 level in the state – that Rana went to former India pacer Amit Bhandari to find answers.
“Harshit played all his cricket in Rohtak Road but one day he came to Gyan Bharti School in south Delhi. I was there, since my son trained there. He walked up to me and said, please teach me the art of fast bowling,” Bhandari told TOI.
Bhandari claims the desire to learn was unmistakable in him. Since fast bowling came naturally to him, they started focusing on game sense rather than technique.
“He has a strong upper body which is not built in a gym. His upright seam position came naturally to him. He is someone who will not get injured because of his action. We ignored all discussion about his action. He is not express fast but bowls a heavy ball. He will bowl consistently above 135 kmph but can touch 140 and more when he is in rhythm. We started working on bowling areas in different situation of a game. We did single-stump bowling with new and old ball. He was curious about setting up a batter with an old ball. There were a lot of discussions on how a ball behaves in different conditions in various situation of a game,” said Bhandari.
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“What stood out for me was that he was willing to go through any amount of workload. He had the discipline to turn up in whites when we practiced with the red ball. One has to have the complete feel of what he is practising for. From there, he went to Gujarat Titans as a net bowler. He is so eager to be in such a rich environment that he started working very hard,” Bhandari stated before adding: “He may have struggled in the second innings in Perth but let me tell you he will not want let go of the Indian dressing room. He will work harder to learn how to bowl in tough situations.”
Former India selector Devang Gandhi, who coached Rana in the Delhi team last year, pointed out the clarity in his mind.
“Harshit was with us just for the white-ball season since he was picked for India ‘A’ before getting injured. I had very little discussion with him because he knew what he wanted to do. I told him he needed to shed a few more kgs to be sharper and he assured me that he will do that. By the time IPL 2024 came, he was leaner and bowling quick at above 140 kmph,” Gandhi told TOI.
It’s his willingness to plough through adversities that has seen Harshit rise rapidly through the ranks. Gandhi reckons with a few more games under the belt, he will be a complete bowler.
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